02479nam a22002657i 4500 99118430154504341 20250828073243.0 250424s2025 enk b 000 f eng d 9780241662434 hardback 9780241737668 trade paperback StEdNL eng rda StEdNL English Miller, Joanna, 1969- author. The eights / Joanna Miller. [London] : Fig Tree, 2025. Includes bibliographical references. They knew they were changing history. They didn't know they would change each other. Following the unlikely friendship of four of the first ever women to matriculate at Oxford University in the aftermath of the First World War, a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination and the many forms courage can take. Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world's most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto (collectively known as The Eights) have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship. Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way - and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford - where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed. But Oxford's dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever. World War, 1914-1918 Fiction Influence Women college students Fiction England Oxford Grief Fiction 24357 Suffragists 25811 Female friendship – Fiction 25456 Oxford (England) Fiction lcc 0 0 lcc 0 0 TBS TBS 2025-08-28 0 P-EN MIL B05642 2025-08-28 1 2025-08-28 1 4886 4886